MSRP:

$999

Overall Rating: 5.55

Our 3rd runner up in the $999 category, the 3.1AE is a lesser known cousin of the LiveStrong elliptical design. Johnson Health Tech, the manufacturer of LiveStrong and AFG, knows a good thing when they see it. When they found that they had a winner of an elliptical design they migrated it to their other brand names like AFG.

General Information

Before the retail shakeout/consolidation, Treadmill Doctor believed that Johnson might get some distribution with the AFG line. They surprised us by gaining distribution through Sears.com and the new Sears 'specialty store' concept and that has saved the AFG line from being like the proverbial dinosaur.

Quality / Philosophy

We gained a much greater understanding of Johnson's business in the past few years with our visit to their headquarters and facilities in Taiwan and China. Johnson is the most integrated manufacturer of fitness equipment in the world. This can be both good and bad. The good is that you are in control of almost all aspects of production. The bad is that you are in control of almost all aspects of production- if you mess up there is no one else to blame. They really seem to be focused on doing things the right way so it appears that this is a case where it is good overall. Overall, we were impressed with their quality procedures and design and testing processes and this year's reviews will reflect our better understanding of their operations.

Outlook

Johnson has established themselves as one of the largest and most stable companies in this business and they certainly have their act together so we have confidence in their ongoing product support of all the lines that they produce but we expect big results with their new partnership with Sears.